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“Non sibi sed aliis,” a latin phrase meaning not for self, but for others. This past summer, I held a strong commitment to this saying by embarking on a three week service trip to India. For the first week and a half, I stayed with a local family in the town of Mcleod Ganj, home of thousands of Tibetan Refugees. During this time I worked at the LHA institution teaching young women English. The first day was a tidal wave of new experiences. The small crowded streets that led to the local library were filled with busy markets, people selling handmade beads for only 5 cents, and stray dogs living in abandoned crates and boxes. Trash filled the streets, tainting the air with a putrid and foul smelling odor. There were beggars on the side of
Throughout Anh Do’s autobiography ‘The Happiest Refugee’ he expresses his values and attitudes towards the fulfilling journey he has been on. He shows his courage, determination and step up bravery throughout numerous heart pounding situations he is faced with in the fiction based novel. Anh do has an exceptional ability to adapt to ever-changing situations, a lack of self-pity and always shows resilience to everything he deals
The contrast Huong provides between the reality of Hang’s impoverished life and the beauty of the scenery that she experiences, emphasise the powerful effect the landscape has on her. When describing the first snowfall she ever observed, Hang noticed that the snowflakes “flood[ed] the earth with their icy whiteness,” this observation “pierc[ing her] soul like sorrow.” The scenery had such a moving effect on Hang, perhaps because she longed for the familiar sight of a Vietnamese landscape. Then recalling a time when her mother took her to a beach, the exquisiteness of the scene at dawn was equally emotionally poignant to Hang, not because she wished for a recognisable sight, but because it was such an extreme difference from the slum in Hanoi where she grew up. The sensory details of her childhood remain with Hang even years later, acting as a reminder of her humble beginnings even as she advances in life. The stench of “rancid urine” that permeated the walls of the slum and the hut where she and her mother lived, with its persistently leaky roof “patched together out of…rusty sheet metal” ; build a vivid picture of poverty. To then be exposed to the breathtaking vista of a natural landscape, having experienced the scarceness of beauty in the slums that is her home, causes distress in Hang.
Poverty is a worldwide epidemic, creating undesirable living conditions for many people on a daily basis. Some of the most touching stories in literature have an overlying theme of poverty. A wide variety of these stories are often set in Asia. Connor Grennan’s novel Little Princes was set in Katmandu, Nepal. In his book, Connor tells the story of his gargantuan trek across Nepal in an attempt to return seven missing children, all of which belong to a Nepali orphanage he volunteered in. These children were all victims of ruthless child trafficking. Connor’s time in Nepal was laden with obstacles and undesirable living conditions. Therefore, Little Princes presents a dystopian world as a result of poor conditions of the orphanage, the treacherous nature of the mountains and the poorly equipped hospital.
Innocence ripped away and replaced by premature struggling through life is what outlines Sold by Patricia McCormick. This historical fiction novel follows the story of Lakshmi, a thirteen-year-old girl living in Nepal. Desperately poor, Lakshmi can only enjoy simple pleasures, such as raising her speckled goat named Tali, and having her mother Ama brush and braid her hair. When the violent Himalayan rains tear away all that remains of their cucumber crops, Lakshmi’s maimed stepfather says she must take up a job, for he cannot get work. Lakshmi is introduced to the charming Bajai Sita who promises her a job as a maid in a wealthy area of India. Excited and full of hope to help her family, Lakshmi endures the long trek to India where her journey ends at the “Happiness House.” Soon she learns the frightening truth: she has been sold into prostitution. She is betrayed, broken, and yet still manages to come through her ordeal with her soul intact. Sold depicts a story meant to teach and inspire, making the novel a piece that is highly important for all to see and read.
"Life Quotes and Sayings, Thoughts on the Philosophy of Life." The Quote Garden - Quotes, Sayings, Quotations, Verses. Web. 22 Jan. 2010.
“Nemo me impune lacessit.”(Poe 228) A Latin phrase which means no one attacks me with impunity, and from that is the entire meaning or the main
Many Tibetans are arrested and put through such treatment with little to no evidence supporting them as criminals. In a sudden “clampdown” that started in February of 1992, groups of ten Chinese raided Tibetan homes in Lhasa arresting more than 200 people. Those arrested were said to be in possession of “subversive materials, such as photographs, and tapes or books containing speeches or teachings of the Dalai Lama” (Kumar, 77).
Tung, R. J. (1980). A portrait of lost Tibet. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
After a day of work or school, most continue on their way home. Instead of getting in a car, they walk. Walking into their house, they go for a snack, there is no food there. In fact, they don’t have a house at all. This is a life for people living though the Burma Conflict. Most people do not have anything to go home to, which is what makes this interesting. Many think that it is just another place with homeless people, but it is much more than that.
Rinpoche, Sogyal. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. New York, NY, USA: Harper Collins Publishers, Inc., 1993
In Birds of Paradise Lost by Andrew Lam, we are able to gain perspective on the sufferings of Vietnamese refugees. It provides a universal immigration experience as the reader is able to visualize the experiences that the refugees underwent during the fall of Saigon, which occurred in 1975. The ideas for writing the book was drawn from Lam’s childhood as he was brought up in an American Vietnamese community located in San Francisco. In the story”hunger,” the primary focus is on Nguyen as a character within the narration in “ Hunger” and his relation to one particular theme of interest, which is hunger. The theme of hunger and the theme of
... us making time in our busy lives to serve people in need, they too will learn the importance of self-sacrifice. Our actions speak louder than our words. We can preach to them all day long about service and sacrificing for others, but if they don’t witness our active participation in these acts, they will likely follow our example and not heed our words.
Imagine millions of Afghani refugees, emaciated families, and thousands of uneducated children all desperate for help. In the war that America has waged against terror, it has left in its wake millions of peaceful, starving, and struggling civilians. Both, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini display the two different stories about the reality of living in the midst of war. Using contrasting brushstrokes, these two stories paint a vivid picture of the fragile and tumultuous society that millions of peaceful Afghani and Pakistani civilians claim as their own.
Indra Sinha’s, Animal’s people, helps its readers to better understand the underlying strengths of the impoverished and marginalized in society. It builds a story centered on poverty and hardships faced by the people of a fictional village called Khaufpur. Khaufpur is an historical allusion to the tragedy of Bhopal, India, in which similar events actually took place. In the book’s final quote, “We are the people of the Apokalis. Tomorrow there will be more of us” (page 366), the book is finally focused on the made point of the resilience of the Khaufpuri people in this situation.
Tibet, with its isolated, harsh geographical location and history of political and social remoteness would seem an unlikely place to provide a “cradle for creative art” (Bailey 22). Yet it is in this desolate section of the world that one of the most intriguing artistic cultures has been cultivating over hundreds of centuries. One facet of what makes Tibetan art so unique and interesting is its interdependency on its religious beliefs.